The Meningitis Flag

The bold idea

Meningitis is a potentially devastating disease that can strike at any time. Affecting more than 2.5 million people globally each year, one in ten will die of the disease with 50% of these deaths occurring amongst children aged five and under. Despite significant progress made over the last 20 years, meningitis is still the world’s 6th largest infectious disease killer.

To accelerate progress towards the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) global roadmap to defeat meningitis by 2030, the Meningitis Flag was co-created for and by the community, and was part of a broader integrated campaign for Sanofi, Meningitis Research Foundation, and the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO).

Inspired by how the proudest moment for any athlete is to fly their country’s flag, Leith developed the Meningitis Flag to represent patients, families, and the community. For the para-athletes who have defeated meningitis, they not only fly their country’s flag, they fly the Meningitis Flag to defeat meningitis.

The flag features three distinct layers of shapes and colours:

- The yellow semi-circle represents the patient, symbolising hope and emphasising the importance of every individual.

- The purple triangle signifies the care and support provided by families. Pointing upwards like an arrow, it represents the speed and positivity in the race against meningitis.

- The sea of blue symbolises the calm determination of the broader movement to defeat this disease by the meningitis community.